Football

Belford still on Stanley's radar

ACCRINGTON Stanley boss Leam Richardson says he would consider bringing Cameron Belford back to the club in the future, despite choosing to sign Paul Rachubka instead on the final day of the transfer window.

Rachubka spent December on loan at Stanley from Leeds before a red card meant the Reds had to bring in Belford from Bury during his suspension.

Richardson admits that Belford’s performances for Stanley were impressive but says that he already had a gentleman’s agreement in place to try to sign Rachubka.

The financial side of that agreement took a little longer to sort out, meaning that Belford stayed on loan for two more games after Rachubka’s three-match ban had finished.

But a deal was eventually finalised on Thursday to keep Rachubka on loan from Leeds until the end of the season Belford returned to Bury and was on the bench for their League One game against Doncaster on Saturday.

“We had a gentleman’s agreement that we would try to do something for the season and we’ve both stuck to that,” Richardson said about the Rachubka deal.

“It’s left Cameron, not second choice, but we’d already made that agreement. If it had been the other way round it would have been exactly the same.

“He’s someone I’ll keep my eye on and look to try to work with in the future because I think Cameron did really well. He’s a great lad.”

Rachubka’s contract at Leeds expires at the end of the season and Richardson thinks the 31-year-old will be keen to play for an extended stay at Stanley.

“He’s out of contract with Leeds in the summer so first and foremost he needs a job next year,” Richardson said.

“He’s fully aware of that. He wants to play football, he wanted to come and play for Accrington, which is quite refreshing, and they’re the type of people we want.

“Hopefully now he’s going to put a good run of games together from now to the end of the season.

“It’s up to Paul to impress, work hard and get his head down and play as many games as possible.”

Richardson became a manager for the first time when he was appointed Stanley boss three months ago and admits his first experience of the transfer window was not easy.

“It’s been a stressful time,” he said.

“When I first came into the job I managed to secure a good couple of names and players quite early on.

“It was a little bit more frustrating over the last couple of weeks with players not wanting to move or wanting to go elsewhere.

“It was my first time experiencing something like that and it’s something I’ll have to get used to quite quickly.

He added: “I don’t get disheartened at all if I don’t get the targets I want.

“You can move on and you try to work as hard as possible to get the best players through the door.”